what's up with our sport?

I know the felling . It will pick up. We have the best sport in the world . I dont know why we dont have billions of paddlers. maby we are the chosen ones.
happy canoe year.

dugout,piczo.com

#1 Sun, 01/13/2008 - 9:34pm

Luke , i think the less people you are seeing are the people in front you during the race, congrats on the result from today.

#2 Sun, 01/13/2008 - 10:17pm

what was the race course? maybe they weren't digging the north winds...

#3 Sun, 01/13/2008 - 10:49pm

Kailua Beach Park - bouy at the entrance of Pinki's Canal - clockwise around 'birdshit' - around Flat Island - Kailua Beach Park.

20 - 25 mph gusty winds, most difficult section upwind to Birdshit and around, pretty good surf run down to Flat Island; course length 6plus miles.

Typical 'running' start, nobody knew what was going on exactly, at a given point everybody went for it, - I heard later that Jim lifted a paddle, shouting let's go.
Small currents and tiny swells down to Pinki's. Wind right in your face and swell from the front left up to Birdshit, quite uncomfortable to paddle.
Clockwise around Birdshit, very choppy, all about balance, difficult to keep the boat gliding. Good swell from the back left all the way back, best in the midsection. Finish right at Kailua Beach Park.
Very nice course and race overall.

Short course to Pinki's and back.

#4 Mon, 01/14/2008 - 9:17am

I didn't race last year but did in 2006. The thing I noticed was that unless it was a Hawaii Kai run or Makai pier with good wind not many people showed up.

#5 Mon, 01/14/2008 - 1:00pm

Lukas-san,

I think b/c there's sooooo many races to choose from, people may now tend to pick-and-choose what races to participate in. It almost seems crazy (and hardly affordable) to do them ALL with two associations running races, in addition to the off-island races...oh! and two solos! :) (Let's not start that topic on this thread though!)

#6 Mon, 01/14/2008 - 2:17pm

Word: "bird shit island"=Mokolea, "flat island"=Popoia, "lanikai"=kaohao, "lanikai pt."=Alala pt., "Smith Pt."= Wailea Pt, "buzz's canal"=Kaelepulu stream, so on and so forth. Doesn't Mokolea sound better than Bird shit, anyways?

#7 Mon, 01/14/2008 - 2:55pm

Thanks for filling in, Jim; I appreciate it.

I didn't know about kaohao.

To call an island 'bird shit' is quite ingenious though, don't you think ?
Who came up with that ?

Maybe OC paddlers ? Where are we paddling today ? Well, we go around .. - - -; don't forget, then you also need to remember Popola.

I bet it's because nobody could remember the name. Just going by the sound, I'd say both are ok.
For matter of respect we should try Mokolea. You are right about that.

Next time it's going to be: Let's paddle to Mokolea. Where ? Mokolea. Where is that ? Well, out there ! Ah, you mean ....

The whales have returned and are jumping here in the bay. That keeps the paddlers a little closer together. The whales come in to about one mile off shore, I think that's where the reef drops off steeply.

So every paddle outside the line between Mokoleas and Mokolea is right in their area.
Usuall we move back in when they are inbetween the paddlers and the shore; other than that it is just exciting - all of a sudden an animal the size of a truck jumps out of the water.
At times you just see an eye popping out of the waves 20 -30 yards next to you for a moment.

When they swim close to the surface they leave a trail of glassy water, just like a highway.

As the story goes, it was Mike Judd who found himself standing on the back of a whale, his canoe between his feet one day. The giant was just getting some air I guess, continued his regular travel and Mike continued his paddle.

#8 Mon, 01/14/2008 - 8:11pm

Luke just wants more guys to race so the list of guys he's beaten is longer!!

#9 Tue, 01/15/2008 - 3:12pm

WELL YOU BETTER GET YOUR OKOLE TO THE RACES AND JOIN US......... OR ARE YOU GOING TO COME WIT DA STRENGTH =)

#10 Wed, 01/16/2008 - 1:29pm

If you want to see some of the problems with our sport look to some sports that have succeeded and ask yourself what they are doing that we are not. A couple good examples are Running, cycling, Triathlons. The largest discrepancy is marketing, In paddling marketing is next to non existent. The builders advertise in Pacific Paddler that has limited circulation. Web sites are mediocre at best, if you want to see a good marketing site for surfski's look at http://www.surfski.co.za/ Race courses and even the seasons are not helping. The attitude towards short distance in many areas and I am mostly speaking of So Cal as I am most familiar is that short courses are for Kitty Cats (word changed for our younger audience). However in Nor Cal where is it always cold, wet and not a lot of fun to paddle they totally embrace the short races and the beginner paddlers,. They are always doing great things to get you on the water. And when the wind blows the racing is great. My guess is this is the largest growing outrigger race association anywhere.

Look at what Ironman did a few years ago, They dropped the word "half" from the word Half Ironman. They made it Ironman 70.3. Instead of being Half an Ironman, You are an Ironman 70.3.

I spent two years racing the short courses, This was After several years of racing long courses, When I was paddling long races I was typically about 15 overall, Not great, But not bad, I can hang with the best of them, Anyway my point is I chose to race short for several reasons, First was Why race long, it is just long flat and boring. Second I was not training enough to be where i wanted to be, Third was I had just as much fun, I got to start off in a pack (just Like the Long races), I got to paddle (just Like the Long races) I got to push hard (just Like the Long races) I got to sprint to the finish (just Like the Long races), Most times I even won the race, Even when you know there are better, faster paddlers, Leading a race is awesome, and it is a feeling many will never get and fewer will get it running ion the long race. Am I less of a paddler because I experienced the same aspects of racing the long race in the 5-6 miles and everyone else paddled 10-14??? Did I take heat for it, Ohh hell yeah, Every race.

My suggestion is that if you want to see our sport grow and the great races, Support the short races and the new paddlers. If they get stoked on the races they will want to move up, and have a bigger challenge. However if the mentality is that short races are for Kitty Cats they will be too intimidated to race and either leave the sport or just paddle solo.

Just a thought, Have you ever noticed that almost All the boats on race day are almost all in perfect condition. Why don't you ever see that really beat up, heavy, Super old style boat, You know these boats are out there and are still being paddled. Do we put too much into "What" we are paddling and not enough into just paddling.

#11 Wed, 01/16/2008 - 5:58pm

Take it easy...paddling websites mediocre? I know you're not referring to ocpaddler! Nah,nah,nah-no shame in short coursing cuz. I think Kai Bartlett did that for like his first two or three years-no joke! Worked out good for him. The short courses are awesome for getting people involved. Up here in Wa. we don't have that option-all the courses are short! I guess that's because it's so cold, but 45 degrees isn't really that cold anyway. Honestly, I'd like to see oc races get longer. Guys up here race some crazy distances in their marathon boats. It makes 15-20 miles seem like it's fur "kitty kats".

#12 Wed, 01/16/2008 - 6:43pm

Kitty cats? â€¦.Kitty cats?â€¦â€¦â€¦

your talking about two different animals. like 100yard sprinters and marathon runners. some of us live for sprinting. after all in the big races you only see everyone for the first hour and then they become dots. The standings change but not drastically.
Kitty cats?

I think to sell something and get big endorsements. it has to catch the eye like ball chasing foot ball basketball baseball even hockey players. The average person can watch that and get satisfaction in it , identify with it ,even be it . But watching a canoe race maybe not the same pay off as quick. being close to the water is not something you can share in the length of a commercial. I think our Marketing is exceptional for where our sport is and they are doing a great job. I think its still a labor of love with most not a cash deal quit yet. not entirely. if we did have the big endoursments there would be alot moor paddlers. and less understanding of the ocean.

Iâ€™m rambling again. sorry guys

#13 Wed, 01/16/2008 - 9:49pm

Ocean Ohana has it correct. Support the short course people, make it fun, social. Encourage new paddlers and make it fun for them. Once they get excited, they'll move up to long if they want to and get more competitive. Heck, on a number of islands here in Hawaii the short course is plenty competitive and that gorup is having fun. On the west coast maybe do a summer season and start later in the day when there is some breeze. I imagine a race from Santa Barbara down the coast to some point would be cool. Or Cabrillo Beach inside the breakwall at San Pedro to somewhere down the coast to Los Alamitos/Long Beach might be a good run - not sure but those afternoon land breezes can be great. Most important, make it fun! More people will follow. If it becomes less fun, people will do other stuff. Race organizers need to consider what the newer people will enjoy on a short course while keeping the long course the tougher race for those who want it. OceanOhana doesn't want to win all the short course races as that might discourage the up and comers, yeah?

The canoe manufacturers should help/work with the race organizers and plan together how to make the sport more fun so it can grow. Otherwise it could go the way Hobie Cat racing did in Hawaii- die. I wonder why that did happen- too many models /sizes of boats? That doesn't seem to be a problem with our sport as OC1/OC2 is it vs. Hobie 14, 16, 18, 21, etc.

Also important, new paddlers should be encouraged to paddle w/ a OC6 club to build a good stroke technique foundation. On the mainland it might be interesting to try to combine some OC1/OC2 races following the OC6 sprints. Or include the OC1/OC2's in a distance race as they occasionally do in Florida. It is a fact that the best OC1/OC2 paddlers in Calif and HAwaii are also the best OC6 paddlers - more time on the water.

Paddle hard, paddlefast! HAve fun!

#14 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 10:20am

If you want more people to attend races , maybe their should incentives? Such as prize money , t shirts to each competitor , medals, lucky draws at the end of race/series etc. Also there should be a scoring system , where you get a percentage of points based on the winners time and at the end of the series of races you get prizes for the different catogries. I'm positive the main reasons why paddling has grown into such a huge sport in South Africa and so many people attend the races is the reasons stated above.

#15 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 3:50pm

race organizers looking for the tools to attract and retain sponsors should look at "The sponsorship seekers toolkit"

http://www.amazon.com/Sponsorship-Seekers-Toolkit-Second/dp/0074712217

written by a couple of Aussie gals, it includes all the letter templates and coorespondance to present a first class sponsorship image for your event ( altho they focussed on gawlf, tennis and other "corporate" events)

this book helped a paddling buddy take the Jericho Oceanman http://www.oceanman.com from a weird human interest story on the local news to full sponsorship from maui jim and a major airline.

check it,

#16 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 6:39pm

I want to play some "gawlf" and very focussed while I'm at it.
Please coooorespond.

sarc at my peril

#17 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 7:09pm

Nah seriously, that's cool to hand out some tools openocean.
Mahalo

#18 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 7:12pm

for those of you looking for team or individual sponsorship,

try www.sponsorhouse.com

Roscoe
www.outrigger.ca
"the ocean experience"

#19 Thu, 01/17/2008 - 8:08pm

Just thought I'd revive this one for a bit and ask a couple questions.

What would it take for you guys to want to paddle more races? Be as specific as you can. Food? Venue? Money? Publicity? Governing Body? Surfing runs only? Youth Categories? Inter island races? State wide series?

Maybe some day the powers that be will be able to come up with something that appeals to the masses. So not so much what's wrong, but how do we make it better?

Lastly, what kind of lotion would you use to soften your hands after a long race?

#20 Sat, 02/16/2008 - 10:58pm

Only downhill runs.

Yeah I know there's logistics to deal with, but it's mo' funner. There's not much incentive for loading my boat, driving an hour, and paying $20 only to paddle the same triangle format I train with. Worse, half the races I go to NEVER take full advantage of the downhill portion...its always 45 degree angle to the swell. The three legs are 1)ama-side swell 2)uphill 3)not quite downhill. Boring.

So I'll repeat - only bombing, downhill runs.

And maybe some pole dancers.

#21 Sun, 02/17/2008 - 5:27am

Wasn't there like two hundred people in that last race? How many more would you like to see? No joke, when your hands are really hammered after work or paddling, corn husker's lotion is da bomb!

#22 Sun, 02/17/2008 - 5:30am